BYU-Utah fallout

Hello,

Yesterday's loss by BYU to Utah was very disheartening, especially since a lot of the damage BYU did to themselves. There were three things that BYU did to themselves that helped the Utes win the game.

1) The following is Football 101. When your team is receiving a punt, the ball is live if it touches a member of the receiving team. When Joe Dale hit that short punt, why weren't BYU's special teams looking for the ball? The punt hit a BYU player making the ball live and Utah recovered. Those simple mental errors drive me crazy.

2) On that same possession BYU player Brandon Bradley intercepted Jordan Wynn and instead of going down he tried to run the ball. What happened, he fumbled the ball back to Utah. Although the replays clearly show his knee was on the ground before he fumbled the ball. I'm not even mad about the refs missing that, Bradley in the first place should have just went to the ground. Although I'm not sure why we have video replay if they still can't get the call right.

On that same possession BYU should have had the ball twice and both times played it poorly and the Utes got the ball.

3) Then the third bad decision was in the first half BYU could have kicked a chip shot field goal or go for it on fourth and short. BYU made a poor decision to go for it. Not only that, but they called a passing play. Their receivers have had a hard time catching the ball the whole season.

BYU still got a final chance and drove the ball down the field and went for the field goal and the Utes blocked it. Unlike the night before when BSU lost the game to Nevada, in this game the Utes won the game.

Other thoughts about the BYU game. Where was McKay Jacobsen this season? Why was he only scoring his first touchdown of the season last night? BYU is now 6-6, I don't think a .500 team should be bowl eligible. However if BYU does go to a bowl game, I would like to see the Cougars open up the offense and lets see what Heaps can do. He certainly has improved all season.

Now if BYU can keep all their young players, meaning they don't get in trouble with the Honor Code, then I think BYU has a bright future. Jake Heaps, Josh Quesada, Cody Hoffman, Kyle Van Noy and Devin Mahina are all freshman. McKay Jacobsen is a junior and hopefully will be used much better next season. Also Bryan Kariya is a junior and quarterback Riley Nelson should get his junior season over again. I know Heaps has said he isn't going on a mission, although he definitely shouldn't pass up that opportunity. If he chooses to go on a mission, Nelson would be a good fill in for him that two years. Also backup quarterback James Lark got a little bit game experience this season. Again I think BYU could have a great future. I look forward to next season.

Thanks to wikipedia.org, this is BYU's tentative schedule for next season:

Date Opponent Site Reference
September 3 at Ole Miss Vaught–Hemingway Stadium • Oxford, MS [1]
September 10 at Texas Texas Memorial Stadium • Austin, TX [2]
September 17 Utah LaVell Edwards Stadium • Provo, UT [3]
September 23 UCF LaVell Edwards Stadium • Provo, UT [4]
September 30 Utah State LaVell Edwards Stadium • Provo, UT [5]
October 15 at Oregon State Reser Stadium • Corvallis, OR [5]
TBD Idaho LaVell Edwards Stadium • Provo, UT [6]
TBD New Mexico State LaVell Edwards Stadium • Provo, UT [7]
TBD San Jose State LaVell Edwards Stadium • Provo, UT [8]
TBD at Hawaii Aloha Stadium • Honolulu, HI [9]
TBD at Louisiana Tech Joe Aillet Stadium • Ruston, LA [10]

That will be a brutal September. They play at Ole Miss and Texas, although both schools were down this season. Texas coach Mack Brown had his first losing season this year. Then I think Utah will be a good team again next year, although Jordan Wynn needs to play better than he did yesterday. Right now the home game I'm looking forward to most is the Utah State game. BYU you need to demolish the Aggies, that's the loss that bothers me the most is losing to the terrible Aggies. BYU should never lose to USU, USU is such a football backwater and will always be.

Of all those WAC teams BYU plays, the only one that worries me is Hawaii. The rest are WAC teams, not to much to worry about. Although I wish BYU could play Nevada again. Maybe they will, the Cougars can still add two or three games to next season's schedule.

My final thought, thank goodness BYU and Utah are no longer in that pathetic MWC. A terrible conference for football. But the worst thing is that terrible MTN network. Seriously how tough is it to keep the graphic for downs and yardage on the screen. Someday I'd like to see BYU join a conference again, but being independent in football will be an adventure.

Also it looks like BYU basketball is going to have a good season, led by pre-season All American Jimmer Fredette. BYU is now 6-0. They'll be challenged over the next little bit, their next 6 games they play away from the Marriott Center.

themusicaddict